Deciding whether or not to transplant cannabis plugs or direct sew cannabis seeds is a tough call, and depends upon a variety of factors. Propagating cananbis plugs/starts properly requires a green house environment, heat mats, and an experienced hand in a greenhouse environement, but tends to be more reliable in terms of seeds used to usable plants achieved ratio’s. Direct sowing seeds requires more agricultural experience, warmer soil temperatures, and is generally 25-40% less efficient in terms of seed usage, meaning if you have 95% germ in prop, you’ll see something like 60-70% success in the field at best with direct sow, so you’ll want to throw down that much more seed to hit your numbers. Here’s a brief outline of the pro’s and con’s of direct seeding vs. transplanting:
Direct Sow
- More resilient plants
- No transplant shock
- Higher yields
- No propagation infrastructure needed
- Way faster
- One person can do it
Transplant
- Uses less seed
- Uniform plant count per bed
- Get an earlier start
- One less weeding needed
- Easier to weed